We’re less than a day away from one of the biggest shopping days of the year!  Cyber Monday.

The “official” kick-off to the online holiday selling season.

Millions of motivated shoppers will hit the web on Monday, 11/29 to do some heavy duty shopping.

Early projections for Cyber Monday sales are up 30% over last year!

Soooo, the question is… are YOU ready for Cyber Monday sales?

To make sure you don’t miss a beat this week, I’ve put together a last minute Cyber Monday Eve checklist for you!

Cyber Monday Checklist for Online Merchants

Clean up your website homepage or your eBay listings. Remove all traces of Thanksgiving imagery and messaging.  For more tips on adding holiday messaging and imagery, check out my recent blog post on 7 Late to the Game Holiday Sales Savers.

Send out a Cyber Monday email promotion. 9 out of 10 retailers plan to send out Cyber Monday promotions. Will your customers be bombarded with emails for companies eager to sell their wares? Yes! Which is why it’s important to do emails right…  ( see next tip)

Make your Cyber Monday email subject lines specific. Many merchants will send an email titled “Cyber Monday Deals! Save 25%” – and while that may work for Walmart, it won’t work for smaller merchants competing for Cyber Monday eyeballs with the big guys.

If your best-selling items are kids’ rain boots, promote these in the subject of your email. For example: “Cyber Monday Deal: Save 25% on all Colorcraft Rainboots”.

Track sales trends in your niche. Are you staying on top of the sales trends in your niche? During the holidays, things change quickly as deman increase and supplies dwindle! Use trend sites like Google Insights, Twitter Search and eBay Pulse to track searches and demand for holiday products.

Offer shipping promotions. But keep in mind it’s important to put quantifiers on your promotions! “Free shipping on all orders over $50.” “Free Shipping on all orders placed before December 5th.” will get you better results than a generic free shipping promotion.

Display contact information prominently. Shoppers stress is escalating and people won’t take the time to look for your contact information if it’s not displayed prominently. For website owners, this means the upper, right-hand corner of your website. For eBay sellers, this means the upper right quadrant of your listing.

Replenish your inventory. As you sell out of inventory, restock your homepage and your eBay listings with more styles, sizes, colors, etc. Whatever it takes to fill out your store. Even if you’ve run out of your best holiday inventory already, keep in mind that 52% of holiday shoppers will be buying something for themselves this year!. A pair of plain brown boots may not bedazzle a gift recipient on Christmas morning, but they may be exactly what your customer needs to replace their worn out pair before winter kicks in.

Check these items off your list and enjoy the process of fulfilling those incoming orders!

-Lisa